Israel Becomes First Country to Offer Pfizer Covid Booster Shots to Those 60+

Israel announced Friday that people over 60 years old are eligible to receive a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in an effort to curb the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, becoming the first country to do so.

The effort, announced by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, began with President Isaac Herzog, 60, publicly receiving the booster shot.

“With this, a new step of the Israeli government, which I’m proud as the president of the state of Israel, to launch,” said Herzog after receiving his third dose. “I believe that it is also a lesson to the entire humankind that we have to protect each other and take the necessary steps to make sure that we can all function as normal and ordinary states and societies.”

According to a translation by Bloomberg, Bennett said the booster shot is currently available to “60-year-olds and over, five months after they received the second shot.”

“Reality proves the vaccines are safe. Reality also proves the vaccines protect from severe morbidity and death,” he said. “And like the flue vaccines that need to be renewed from time to time, it is the same case in this.”

Israel has been at the forefront of the international Covid-19 vaccination campaign, beginning its rollout for seniors in December. Currently, 59% of the population is vaccinated.

Cases have ticked upwards amid the spread of the Delta variant, and as of Friday, Israel reported a 1,909 weeklong rolling average. A month earlier, the rolling average was 222 new cases.

The booster shot news comes a week after the Israeli Health Ministry reported waning efficacy of the vaccine against the Delta variant, with the Pfizer vaccine being only 39% effective. That study still found that it significantly lowered hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.

Watch above, via Bloomberg